Duke Energy Renewables, Integrys Solar, Canadian Solar and Community Energy Complete Solar Project for Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant in Massachusetts

BERKLEY, Mass., Sept. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy Renewables, Integrys Solar, Canadian Solar Inc., and Community Energy Solar today announced the completion of a 3-megawatt (MW) AC solar power project in Berkley, Mass.  

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The Berkley East Solar Power Project is co-owned by Canadian Solar and INDU Solar Holdings – a joint venture between subsidiaries of Duke Energy and of Integrys Energy Services.

"On behalf of INDU, we are pleased to announce the completion of the Berkley East Solar Project," said Integrys Energy Services Vice President Joel Jansen. "The success of this project can be directly attributed to the expertise and the professionalism of the many different stakeholders involved, and we look forward to a strong relationship with Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant (TMLP) and the town of Berkley for many years to come."

TMLP is purchasing the power generated from the project under a 25-year agreement.

We're very pleased to announce the addition of this valuable resource to the TMLP power supply portfolio," said TMLP General Manager Michael Horrigan. "Environmentally speaking, it's absolutely the right thing to do; it will avoid approximately 1,500 tons of global warming carbon dioxide emissions annually. Our customers will benefit from the project by purchasing power at competitive rates and by the savings in transmission, line losses and generation costs with the reduction in TMLP load at or near peak times."

TMLP provides service to more than 36,000 electric and internet customers in Taunton, Raynham, Berkley, N. Dighton and sections of Lakeville. The TMLP commissioners are Joseph Martin, chairman, Mark Blackwell Sr., secretary, and Peter Corr.

The ground-mounted installation was developed by Community Energy Solar and constructed by groSolar using 15,624 Canadian Solar modules, enough energy to power about 600 homes annually.

"We evaluated a number of sites in the area and found this project site ideal," said Brent Beerley, executive vice president, Community Energy Solar. "The Berkley public officials were great to work with, tough but fair, assuring the economic and environmental benefits of solar energy to the ratepayers and taxpayers of Berkley. It's another good model for our Massachusetts solar program."

Added Dr. Shawn Qu, chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar: "As part of a strong partnership, we were able to efficiently move this project from permitting through construction. This further demonstrates how we can help streamline ease of ownership for customers and municipalities considering partnering with us on their own solar energy projects."

About INDU Solar Holdings

INDU Solar Holdings is a strategic partnership formed by Integrys Energy Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Integrys Energy Group, Inc., and Duke Energy Renewables, a wholly owned subsidiary of Duke Energy Corp., to develop, construct, finance, own and operate solar photovoltaic projects for commercial, school, government and utility customers throughout the United States.

About Duke Energy Renewables

Duke Energy Renewables, part of Duke Energy's Commercial Businesses, is a leader in developing innovative wind and solar energy generation projects for customers throughout the United States. The company's growing portfolio of commercial renewable assets includes 15 wind farms and 15 solar farms in operation in 10 states, totaling more than 1,700 megawatts in electric-generating capacity. Learn more at www.duke-energy.com/renewables. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 250 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK.

About Integrys Energy Services

Integrys Energy Services, Inc. provides competitive energy supply solutions, structured products, distributed energy assets, and strategies that allow retail residential, commercial, and industrial customers to manage their energy needs. Areas of power generation expertise include cogeneration, distributed generation, renewables such as solar and landfill gas. Integrys Energy Services is a subsidiary of Integrys Energy Group (NYSE: TEG), a Fortune® 1,000 company with a 150-year heritage. More information about Integrys Energy Services is available online at www.integrysenergy.com

About Canadian Solar

Founded in 2001 in Canada, Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) is one of the world's largest and foremost solar power companies. As a leading vertically integrated provider of solar modules, specialized solar products and solar power plants with operations in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia and Asia, Canadian Solar has delivered more than 5 GW of premium quality solar modules to customers in over 70 countries. Canadian Solar is committed to improve the environment and dedicated to provide advanced solar energy products, solutions and services to enable sustainable development around the world. For more information, please visit www.canadiansolar.com

About Community Energy

Community Energy ("CE") has led renewable energy development in the Eastern U.S. since its founding in 1999.  CE led wind development in the Northeast at the start of the decade, and in 2009 expanded into solar development in states with expanding solar targets, now including New York, Indiana, North Carolina and Puerto Rico.  Projects built by CE include the 6 MW Keystone Solar Project in Lancaster County, PA, the 7.8 MW Vineland Solar Project in Vineland, NJ, the 24 MW Bear Creek Wind Farm in the Poconos, PA, and the 7.5 MW Jersey Atlantic Wind Farm in Atlantic City, NJ.  Visit www.communityenergysolar.com

About groSolar

groSolar is an industry-leading large commercial- and utility-scale solar engineering, procurement, and construction firm serving the 1 to 30 MW market, and is dedicated to high quality, on time, and on budget project performance.  With megawatt+ projects and over 2,000 installations nationwide, groSolar's experience spans a broad spectrum of applications.  These include design and build applications atop brownfields/landfills, commercial, educational, municipal facilities, and manufacturing plants.  groSolar provides a one stop source for all your solar project needs including ongoing operations and maintenance.  Additionally, groSolar's distribution channel offers product procurement and logistics services to approximately 1,500 solar installers and contractors across the nation whose focus is on residential and small- to mid-scale commercial solar applications.

SOURCE Duke Energy